


Twilight

by leleluvclub (starryeyedpjm)



Series: Qian's Charms and Talismans [4]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-07
Updated: 2020-10-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:21:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26336347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starryeyedpjm/pseuds/leleluvclub
Summary: It’s not every day Jisung has a vision likethis.
Relationships: Huang Ren Jun & Zhong Chen Le, Na Jaemin & Park Jisung
Series: Qian's Charms and Talismans [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1751233
Comments: 4
Kudos: 24





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> hi im back after MONTHS sbsbd i will be adding more to this series, that i can promise  
> this is short and almost for sure will be continued, but pls leave a kudos and a comment if you’d like! ♡ hope you enjoy!

“—and they have the audacity to come here and demand help and bleed all over the carpet, and Kun just _lets_ them, and now they’re staying in the guest room? I mean—”

“Sorry, they’re _what_?” Jisung asks, interrupting Jaemin’s rant and causing his pacing to pause. 

He’d started speaking almost as soon as he’d noticed Jisung was awake, and it’s kind of been making his head spin. It’s hard for him to follow along, catching something about last night—a mention of vampires and Kun and his and Ten’s apartment, where the vampires had allegedly taken up camp. Jisung could feel some old tendrils of terror creeping through him slowly, but clearly nothing compared to what Jaemin had felt—and was still feeling. 

“I said they’re staying in the guest room, are you even listening?” Jaemin huffs. He looks like he’s barely slept, and Jisung almost feels bad about waking up more than halfway through the day. Almost, because roaming outside of this city always takes a toll on him, and he needs to recharge before whatever trip his bosses will inevitably send him on next. 

He hopes he can take Jaemin along, one of these days. 

“Are they still there? How long are they staying?” He’d like to try and get some sort of handle on the situation before waltzing downstairs, making himself vulnerable to the creatures. 

A searing pain strikes his temples and blurry half-images appear in his brain, of blood, bandaged skin and open wounds. Jisung hears soft voices and is unable to decipher whether this is a vision or a particularly painful memory. He’d had the same images flood his brain the day before his return but hadn’t thought them particularly important. He’s got to get better at speaking up about them. 

The voices sound younger than he remembers, softer and interspersed with laughter, so it must be a vision after all. He tries to focus past the pain and gather up some details. 

_(“Seriously, Le, give it back. We’ve gotta go meet with Kun, remember?”_

_“You sure you wouldn’t rather see Jaemin?” A laugh, followed by a spike of anger and embarrassment._

_“Fuck off, you know I don—”)_

He’s thrown out of his own brain suddenly, eyes adjusting back to dim light of the attic and the sound of Jaemin’s voice. 

“—letting them stay longer which I think is the worst fucking idea he’s ever had, but you know how much he likes listening to me. Either way, i’m not dealing with them any more than I have to. If they come bother me in the shop tonight I swear to god I’ll quit.” Jaemin flops down onto his bed, clearly having exhausted himself with his speech. He glances over to Jisung and frowns. “Sung? Did you have a vision?” 

Jisung nods slowly, lifting a hand to forehead. He’s not sure what the voice in his head had meant by seeing Jaemin, but it hadn’t sounded malicious, for some reason. Teasing, perhaps, though he doesn’t know them well enough to say so. It didn’t sound like they were planning to hurt him, in any case, and that leaves him with more questions than answers. It doesn’t make sense. 

It also doesn’t stop the fear from creeping further into his heart, realization that there’s a real threat right down the stairs from them taking him by the throat. Not much stands between him and something that still terrifies him to this day, nothing more than a set of stairs and a magically locked door. He’s seen vampires break through a lot worse. 

Jaemin crawls off of his bed and into Jisung’s, sliding under the covers with him and wrapping his arms around Jisung’s middle. He leans into the warmth, the buzzing in his brain and ache in his temples slowly starting to fade. He closes his eyes to speed up the process and burrows himself further into Jaemin’s side. 

They sit for what feels like ten minutes, just breathing slowly and finding comfort in each other. 

It’s not like Jisung is unused to visions, unused to the pain and the suddenness and the lingering nausea—it’s just not every day he has a vision like _this_ , been a while since he’s seen anything that truly worried him. He tries to brush it off, shakes his head and gently pries Jaemin’s arms off of him. “We should find Kun,” he says. He meets Jaemin’s eyes and is a little unsettled by the terror he finds in them. Jaemin nods anyway, because they trust each other implicitly. 

They wouldn’t work otherwise.

-: ✧ :-

It takes a bit longer to search for Kun than Jisung expects it to; they eventually come across him in the back alley behind the store, talking to what looks like a goblin riding a glowing green horse; Jisung has seen weirder, but he still does a double take. 

He starts to step outside, but he’s being grabbed before he can get the door open. He looks over at Jaemin, who holds a finger up to his lips in a shushing motion and snaps the fingers of his other hand. A weird tingly feeling spreads over Jisung’s entire body and he looks down to find the air around him shimmering. After a couple of seconds his entire body disappears from view. He groans, “I _hate_ when you put glamours on me without asking, Jaem.” 

“Sorry,” comes Jaemin’s voice to his left. He doesn’t even look, knowing he won’t be able to see him. “Isn’t it better if we stay out of sight, though? We can watch him from here without them knowing.”

And Jaemin’s right, of course, but that doesn’t mean he enjoys the sensation, nor does he know why they’re hiding or what they’re looking for while watching Kun. 

He thinks it’s funny, that Jaemin’s kind deals in trickery and shadows, laying low and observing and the quiet power found in knowing. It had been infuriating to try and hold a conversation when they’d first met, when Jaemin had still spoken in riddles and words designed to get information without the other knowing. He’s a lot like Ten in that he doesn’t like to be seen unless necessary. So unlike people like Johnny and Taeyong’s apprentice—what was his name again? Donghyun? Something like that—who dealt in light and community and the loud showmanship that comes with witches’ magic. 

Jisung likes to think of himself as a master of both. Whether that was a consequence of both knowing Jaemin so well and being a witch at the same time, he wasn’t sure, but it was useful for certain...errands. 

He and Jaemin step slightly to the side of the giant window next to the back door, watching as Kun talks to the goblin. He looks irritated, using his hands frequently to gesture while a familiar crease appears above his eyebrows. Jisung is curious, and would cast a charm to eavesdrop if he didn’t think Kun would immediately use a counterspell. 

Kun snaps his fingers and Ten appears beside them, startling the horse and its rider. Ten’s aura is light purple, dipping back and forth between darker shades here and there—probably the remnants of an interrupted nap. He seems to join the conversation almost seamlessly, contempt for the goblin far less hidden on his face. Jisung holds back a laugh. 

They watch for about a minute and a half longer before Jisung gets restless, leaving his and Jaemin’s spot next to the window to move about the room, testing the wards and glamours around them. Not strongly enough to alert Johnny that something has been moved, of course, but enough to know where they start and where they end. There seems to be more hidden in the backroom of the store than he’d ever noticed. 

He glances back out the window periodically as he goes about for the next five or so minutes, finding more and more in the back room to mess with while Jaemin assumedly continues watching. The goblin must be a hard customer to deal with, if the looks on Kun and Ten’s faces are anything to go by. 

He can’t shake the feeling of eyes on him as he makes his way back towards Jaemin, and he catches some shadows moving about in his peripheral. He turns toward the door across the room that leads upstairs but before he can raise an arm to cast light, there’s a hand over his mouth and an arm holding his wrists against the small of his back. His heart speeds up and he struggles for a moment before a quiet voice in his ear says, “Don’t make this harder than it has to be. We just want to talk.” 

It’s the same voice from his vision earlier that day, and Jisung’s blood turns to ice in his veins. 

He tries to struggle again, and the voice sighs. Jisung can’t see behind him and make out the face of the vampire, but he images a look of exasperation before he’s whirled around and his face is being smushed against the wooden wall next to the back door. He hears Jaemin cry out a few feet from him and can just barely make out the shape of him and the other vampire in a similar position. With Jaemin’s concentration broken, his and Jisung’s glamours have worn off and they’re both fully visible. 

“Seriously,” the vampire behind Jisung says, “we just wanna talk. You guys are making this so difficult for no reason.” 

Jaemin snorts to his left, tone derisive. “And we’re supposed to believe you?” A soft, high-pitched cackle comes from behind Jaemin. 

Jisung is whirled around again, back hitting the wall, and okay, now he’s starting to feel nauseous again. He makes eye contact with the vampire in front of him and is startled by how _young_ it looks—though, looks can be deceiving with the undead, he knows. 

The vampire is also handsome, looking around the same age as Jaemin, skin clear and pale, eyes mischievous and thin lips turned up into something resembling a smirk. 

“Did you wanna behave now, or do I have to knock you out?” the vampire says liltingly, and Jisung stiffens. He can’t fight back with his arms restrained like this, and he’s not sure how much damage he could do to this creature anyway. 

“ _Renjun_ , don’t be mean to him,” the vampire holding Jaemin chides. Jisung chances a glance over at him and is struck yet again by how well death sits on the two of them. The other vampire looks even younger than ‘Renjun’, eyes bright and jaw strong. He’s smiling teasingly and holding Jaemin still with what looks like no effort. “He’s cute.” 

Jisung can’t make sense of that statement right now, so instead he turns away. 

A montage of all the things that could possibly go wrong with Jisung’s next statement passes through his mind at high speed, but he knows that this decision is as much for him and Jaemin as it is for the vampires. He needs to know—he hopes Jaemin understands. 

“Okay,” he says, already feeling like a fool when Renjun’s eyes find his again, “we’ll talk to you. But not here.” Jaemin is already beginning to protest, struggling to free himself again, but when Jisung shoots him a look, he quiets. “Upstairs.” 

Renjun squints, clearly not expecting him to agree, but nods once. “I’m not letting you go, so don’t try anything.”

Jisung nods, and is hauled by his arms up the stairs, Jaemin and the other vampire trailing lightly behind them. His head is still swirling with all the things that could go wrong, but he trusts his instinct and his need for answers. They haven’t let him down yet.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im BACK with an update, hello :D it's short and not quite what i wanted but pls leave a kudos and a comment if you'd like to see more in this verse! there's characters i haven't even introduced yet that i'd like to LOL

The vampires drop them on the bed in Kun and Ten’s guest room, Renjun claiming that if they try anything, he’ll “rip their hearts out so quickly they won’t have time to see what’s coming”. Jisung chooses to take his word for it, hands placed unassumingly on the bed behind him. 

Jaemin keeps sending looks at the side of his skull, and Jisung refuses to look back at him, knowing he won’t have a chance to explain while the vampires are in the room with them. God, he should’ve listened when Jaemin suggested they make up some hand signals between the two of them. He needs Jaemin to trust him like usual—though there’s nothing usual or normal about this situation. 

Jisung looks up at Renjun, who’s leaning against the wall opposite the bed, doing what looks like his best impression of a particularly agitated cat, and gestures for him to speak. 

Renjun narrows his eyes. “We’ve got some questions for you, if you’d be so kind,” he says, voice sickeningly sweet, and dripping with venom all the same. “Chenle, watch their hands for me.” 

The other vampire, Chenle, moves from his spot by the door and sits gently on the bed behind him and Jaemin, keeping an eye on their every movement, mirth shining clear in his gaze. It’s clear Renjun is in charge, so Jisung keeps his focus on him. He doesn’t want to lose the upper hand completely, if he hasn’t done so already, so he makes it look like he’s complying as best he can. 

“Go ahead and ask, then.”

Renjun seems to take a second to think, tapping his chin. Jisung spends the time darting his eyes around them. 

He’s vaguely familiar with the room, considering he and Jaemin had stayed here when they’d first arrived, before Kun had decided to designate the attic for the two of them. He knows there are wards on the walls and window like there were then, locked drawers and locked closet, a large bed and a small chair in the corner next to the dresser. All the same hand-me-down and thrifted furniture and decorations that have been here for years. Not much has changed, which means there’s almost certainly nothing to fight with here. And considering Jisung needs his hands for any offensive magic, they’re pretty much out of luck. Jisung isn’t as prepared as he thought he was for this, which means he and Jaemin could die. 

They could die in a place they’ve considered home for _years_ , and that’s not something he’s letting happen. He’s not letting another home get taken from the two of them by the likes of these vampires. 

“Alright, let’s start with this,” Renjun says. Jisung snaps his eyes back to him and catches his gaze. Renjun’s eyes glint with something dangerous before he asks, “What’s Kun’s deal? He runs this place, I assume?” 

Unexpectedly, Jaemin is the one to answer him. “It’s his shop, yes. Why?”

Jisung can feel the anger rolling off of him in waves—it’s a testament to how familiar he is with Jaemin that he’s able to feel what he feels so strongly. He gets nothing of the sort off of either Chenle or Renjun, and he curses the fact he wasn’t born an empath. 

“I’ll be asking the questions, Jaemin.” 

A snort comes from behind them on the bed and Jisung watches with a sick fascination as Renjun’s expression transforms from something haughty to something almost...embarrassed? He glances back at Chenle, who sends him a grin and a wink. He turns back around immediately. Somehow Renjun, despite being scarier, is safer to look at. 

Renjun finds his way to the chair in the corner, taking a seat and turning to stare Jaemin down again. “Who is his partner?”

Chenle pipes up again, “More like _what_ is his partner.” 

It’s almost amusing, Jisung thinks, how serious Renjun is trying to be and how little Chenle seems to be cooperating on that front. Almost, because he still recognizes them as a threat, and doesn’t want to let his guard down. It seems like Chenle is more harmless than Renjun, finding everything funny or interesting around them, but that doesn’t mean he couldn’t tear out Jisung’s throat in less than a second. He’s gotta keep that in mind, quips be damned. 

Jaemin clearly isn’t feeling the same internal struggle. “Ten is a demon, as far as we know. We don’t know what kind, but he’s a powerful one,” he says, smirk clear in his voice. “I wouldn’t fuck with him if I were you.” 

Renjun doesn’t seem impressed, if the look on his face is anything to go by. He rolls his eyes and takes a moment to study his nails. They’re pristine like the rest of him—Kun must have let them use the shower while they were here. Jisung doesn’t know if it’s better that they’re not covered in blood and tracking it everywhere or if it’s worse that they look comfortable, almost _normal_ against the backdrop of the apartment. 

“Right, well, we’re clearly not getting anywhere here, so why don’t you say what you’ve been dying to tell us since we brought you up here?” Renjun looks past Jisung to Jaemin, and Jisung turns and follows his gaze. 

Jaemin gives him a short glance, expression unreadable, and turns his head to look at Renjun. He’s keeping a tight rein on his emotions and Jisung can’t glean anything from him. “You don’t belong here,” he says, voice steely and face carefully blank. “Frankly you don’t belong anywhere in this city, but here in this apartment especially. Take care to remember that and not overstay your welcome.”

Jisung turns back to see the tail end of Renjun’s look of surprise, watching as his face morphs into something amused, eyes lighting up and smile stretching along his face. He feels like he should say something, fingers itching behind his back. 

“Our welcome,” Renjun says dangerously quiet, and if Jisung had his eyes closed he’d still be able to hear the grin on his face, “depends entirely on your _boss_ , in case you’ve forgotten.” He looks entirely too pleased to be reminding Jaemin of this. “Perhaps you should be the one re-evaluating your duration here.” 

The silence from Jaemin isn’t one that Jisung can actually parse anything from, the look on his face still something unrecognizable. Renjun watches him for a short moment, clearly still amused, and then makes his way to the doorway in a flash. 

“C’mon, Le,” he says, gesturing to his companion on the bed. Chenle rises to join him, flashing a smile at Jisung as he goes. Jisung shivers, choosing to ignore him. After a second, Renjun pops his head back into the room. “I guess we’ll be seeing you around.” 

A laugh comes from Chenle and they’re gone in the blink of an eye. Jisung whips his head around to find Jaemin trembling, waves of anger coming off of him. It’s so strong that the emotion feels like his own. 

“Jaemin,” he tries, reaching out with one hand towards the other. Jaemin flinches back and it feels like Jisung has been struck. “I’m sorry, Jaemin, I shouldn’t have—”

“No,” Jaemin interrupts, shaking his head. His eyes are squeezed shut and the words look almost painful for him to spit out as he continues, “You were right to talk to them. I just wish I knew what they were after, so I could—so we could…”

So they could stop them. So they could have some idea of a way to fight back. So they could protect their home, protect their bosses who are clueless to the evil living right beside them. Jisung knows what Jaemin is getting at. If they had even the slightest hint of Renjun’s intentions, they wouldn’t feel so helpless. 

Jisung _hates_ feeling helpless. 

They can’t exactly start a fight above the store, though, at least not the kind of fight this would result in. Much as it pains him to admit, Renjun and Chenle _are_ Kun’s guests, and he and Jaemin will have to play nice for the time being. He can only hope that the vampires decide to do the same. 

_Snort_. Yea, that’s likely.


End file.
